CHICAGO (WLS) — After more than a year of negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union has reached a tentative contract deal with Chicago Public Schools.

The deal must be approved by CTU’s House of Delegates. That vote will happen later this week.

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The deal would then be given to the all the teachers for a vote.

“Tomorrow our delegates will be in a meeting where they will engage with the document they will inquire they say yay or nay and will move to the next phase of this process,” CTU President Stacey Davis Gates said.

Tuesday morning CTU leaders and educators reacting to the pending deal.

“In addition to being an educator and also a parent this tentative agreement provides hope to me,” Dr. Diane Castro, a bilingual preschool teacher, said. “For too long our classroom a have been overcrowded and under resourced.”

According to the terms released by CPS, the four-year tentative agreement includes:

-A four percent raise in year one, and 4-5 percent increases for the remaining three years.

-There’s also increased pay for veteran educators, more librarians, nurses, and social workers.

-New class size limits.

-More elementary school teacher prep time.

Both CPS and CTU leadership praising this tentative agreement.

“We all took a deep breath after today. We gathered as colleagues in the Big Bargaining Team to discuss everything in great detail, to really weigh it out,” said CTU big bargaining team member Vicki Kurzydlo, who is in her 31st year of teaching. “We have language that is going to ensure safety for our children, that is going to help to build a force field around our schools to protect what may be coming from our federal government.”

In a statement in part, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez says, “We made sure that this agreement respects the hard work of our talented educators and reflects what’s best for students.”

After the union presents the plan to its members, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez will present the plan to the CPS Board for a final approval. That process could take a couple of weeks.